Support or holder for wardrobe trunks



Sept. 12, 1933. J. M. BEARD SUPPORT on HOLDER FOR wARDRoBE TRUNKs Filed Oct. 7, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet l Sent., A12, 1933. J, M. BEARD SUPPORT OR HOLDER FOR WARDROBE TRUNKS Filed Oct. 7, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 3521/71/ ecaz, Inl/71,27% (Ey Jrny 56.' bert.

'liaiented Sept. 12, i933 rasant snr-roar on notions Fort waenson 'raUNKs .lohn M. Beard, Lacliawanna, N. Y;

ipplication @ctober 7, 1929. Serial No. 397,797

l2 Claims.

lVly invention relates to improvements in supports or holders for wardrobe trunks.

Wardrobe trunks are invariably set on end, and one type oi such trunks now in general use comprises two parts or sections pivotally connected along adjacent vertical edges, usually through the medium oi hinges, and provided with co-acting fasteners at the remaining vertical edges and with means to lock the parts together when they are moved relatively into closed position.

it is a dilicult matter to gain access to the interior of trunks of this type, due to the -fact that when placed on end, it is necessary to tip the trunk rearwardly or away from the person attempting to open the same in order to lift the iront or movable cover part or section from the floor so as to permit it to be swung into open position. Unless the trunk is so tilted, the front or cover section oi the trunk will move in rubbing contact against the hoor, and when the floor is polished, cause the same to become scratched. When the trunk rests on a rug or carpet, opening of the hinged iront or cover section will be found more difficult; in fact, tilting of the trunk will be found absolutely necessary so as to lift the bottom oi the iront or cover section from the rug or carpet.

Wardrobe trunks are now commonly used by t .e traveling public and others, and particularly by occupants of rooms in boarding or roorning houses; and in cases where a Wardrobe trunk acts as a substitute for a clothes closet, my invention is of decided advantage.

One of the objects oi my invention is to provide a support or holder for the trunk, and so position or hold the trunl: that when opening the same, the hinged front or cover section of the trunk cannot come in contact with the floor.

Another object of my invention is to provide means for holding the trunk elevated, so that the floor can he kept clean underneath the trunk and so that the trunk may be opened without any resistance being offered thereagainst, such g' as created by rubbing contact with the floor or a gaining access to the interior thereof; and to provide as a part or" the support or holder, an exposed clothes-supporting member on which hats, coats or other clothing, which are in daily use, may be hung.

A further object of my invention is to provide (Cl. 19t-35) a support or holder which will positively hold the rear or body portion of the trunk in a position elevated from the floor and allow the front or cover portion of the trunk to be swung into open position without moving in contact with any part G of the support or holder or any adjacent object.

A still further object of my invention is to pro- Vide means in connection with a support or holder of the kind mentioned, whereby the front or cover section of the trunk will be drawn into closed po- 6 sition or swung into full open position after said section, in its movement, reaches either one or the other side, respectively, of a certain plane.

With the above and other objects in view, my invention consists in the provision oi? a support 7 for holding a wardrobe trunk in such a position that the front or cover portion thereof may be swung on its hinges without coming in contact with the floor.

The invention further consists in the novel iea- 7 tures of construction and in the arrangement and combination of parts to be hereinafter described and more particularly pointed out in the subjoined claims.

In the drawings:- S

Fig. l is a perspective view of a wardrobe trunk applied to my improved support or holder, the top, one of the sides and the front of the trunk being shown.

Fig. 2 is a perspective View viewed from another angle and showing the top, the opposite side and the rear of the trunk. l

Fig. 3 is an enlarged horizontal section through the support or holder taken on line 3-2-3, Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged vertical section through the support or holder taken on line ili, 2.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged horizontal section through the support or holder taken on line 5--5, Fig. 2.

Fig. 6 is a horizontal section of the support or holder taken on line 6 6, Fig. 7. 9

Fig. 7 is a vertical section taken on line 7 7, Fig. 6, looking in the direction of the arrow crossing said line.

Fig. S is a rear View of a modied form of support or holder, showing a trunk supported thereby l and clamped therein.

Reference being had to the drawings in detail, 10 designates a wardrobe trunk of the type having two parts or sections relatively movable. @ne of said parts or sections may be termed the rear l section or body portion of the trunk, which l designate by the numeral ll; the other part, designated by the numeral l2, may be termed the front or cover section of the trunk. These two sections are pivotally connected together along l adjacent edges by means of hinges 13, or otherwise, and they are provided with retainer clasps 14 comprising two co-acting parts by means of which the opposite adjacent edges of the two sections of the trunk may be connected together. The sections of the trunk may also be locked in closed position by means of a locking hasp or member 15. f

The trunk illustrated is therefore one of a common type adapted to be set on end upon the iioor and the two parts or sections thereof are relatively movable so that access may be had to the interior.

In the embodiment or" my invention illustrated, I provide a supporting frame 16, having two horizontal members 17, 18 arranged at a right angle to each other; the member 17 being preierably in a lower plane than the member 18, and being connected to said member i8 at adjacent ends by an upright or vertical connecting inember 19. These horizontal members may be of any desired material, but in the form shown they are constructed of angle iron.

The horizontal frame member 17 may be described as being longitudinally-disposed while the horizontal frame member 18 is transverselydisposed.

The longitudinally-disposed frame member 17 has caster blocks secured to opposite ends thereof, to which casters 21 are secured. These caster blocks and casters serve as separated supporting points or legs for the support or holder, and these are connected together by other parts of the support or holder so that the trunk in the holder is not, nor is a trunk adapted to be clamped in the holder, intended to serve as means for connecting said legs.

The upright or lvertical connecting member 19 may also be constructed of any desired material,

but I prefer to form the same of angle iron and provide it with a horizontal web or lahge 22 at its lower end through which and the longitudinal frame member 17, rivets 23 or other fastening means are passed. This connecting upright is therefore secured to and supported by the longitudinal frame member i7.

One end of the transverse frame member 18 has one oi its webs or anges bent upon itself, as at 24, and rivets or other fastening elements 25 are passed through this bent portion and through one ofthe webs or ilanges of the connecting upright. At the opposite end of said transverse frame member, a caster block 26 is fastened thereto, it being or a length so that its lower end will be horizontally alined with the lower ends of the blocks 20 secured tothe longitudinal frame member 17, and it has a caster 27 secured to the lower end thereof.

28 designates a clamp support which forms partl of the frame of the support or holder and comprises two'iat mem ers 29, 30; member 29 being horizontally-disposed while member 30 is vertically-disposed. One end of member 29 is riveted or otherwise secured to the connecting or corner upright 19, as'at 3l, and the other end thereof is vriveted or otherwise secured to the upper end of member 30, as at 32; the lower end of member 3) being riveted or otherwise secured to the transverse frame member 18, as a 33. This clamp support also has two arms 34, 35 extending, respectively, upwardly and downwardly from the ilat horizontal member 29, and these arms are provided with guide loops 36, 37, respectively, which are oiset inwardly and orwardly, and also with respect to the flat member 29 from which said arms extend.

38 designates a clamp, ich consists of a vertically-disposed clamp bar 39 guided for vertical movement in the guide loops 3S, 37, and at its upper end having a forwardly-extending contact or clamp head 40 transversely elongated and provided at opposite ends with eit or other suitable pads 4l aiaptedl for Contact with the upper end of the rear section or body portion of the trunk; the trunk having the rear marginal portion of its bottom restingy on the transverse frame member 18.

The clamp bar 38 has the upper end of an operating rod pivotally connected thereto, as at 43, and its lower end is pivotally connected to a han-:l lever 44 pivotally secured to the downwardly-extending or depending arm 35 of the clamp support, as at 45. Said lever has a widened inner portion provided with a stop ear 47 adaptedto engage a stop lug 48 formed on said depending arm 35 when said lever is swung to the end of its movement in one direction. The pivotal. connection of the rod 42 to the lever 44 is in spaced-relation to the pivot 45 of said lever, and 10U when swinging said lever on its pivot, said pivotal connection moved through an aro of a circle. When swung to one side of a vertical plane passingthrough the pivot 45, as for example illustrated in Fig. 2, the pivotal connection of said rod 42 with the lever will be slightly to the left of the dead center, thus making it necessary to exert pressure on the handle of the level' 44 in a d nward direction to cause said pivotal connection to be passed beyond the dead center; where` upon, additional further downward movement of said lever handle will move the clamp bar 39 upwardly and disengage the clamp head 40 from the top wall of thetrunlz. Upon swinging the lever handle upwardly and to the left, the clamp head will be caused to firmly engage the top of provided, which is guided for movement along theliorizontal flat member 29 of the clamp support, said flat member having ears 50 bent over said clamp bar from opposite longitudinal edges of said member and serving as lguides for the same. One end of this clamp bar is also provided with a. forwardly-extending contact or cla-nip head 51, whic' is vertically elongated and provided at opposite ends with felt or other engaging pads 52 adapted to engage one side of the body portion of the trunk. This clamp bar has one end of an actuating rod 53 pivotally connected thereto, the other end or said rod being pivotally connected to a lever 54 which is pivotally secured to said'flat i535.'

member 29 and to the corner upright 19 by means of the rivet 31 serving to connect said flat member with said corner po. In this case the pivotal connection oi the op ating rod 53 to said lever 54 also spaced r1 that upon swinging the handle of said lever in an are of Va circle, the cla-np head of said clamp bar 49 will be moved away from the side of the body portion of the trunk, or against the depending on the direction in which the lever 54 145 is swung. When swinging the lever handle downwardly into the position shown in Fig. 2, it will engage a stop 55 extending reaiwardly from the connecting or corner upright 19, and the pivotal connection of the operating rod will have, at

n the pivot 01"' said lever, so M01 such times, moved beyond the dead center of said lever. Under such conditions, the clamp head 51 is drawn against the side of the trunk and the trunk against the connecting or corner upright.

When the levers 11141 and are in the positions shown in Fig. 2, clamp head di) is forced against the top of tl body portion of the trunk and the clamp head against that side at which the trunk is to be opened. When swinging the levers 44 and 54 into releasing positions, the trunk can be readily removed from the support or holder.

When the levers are the position shown in Fig. the body portion or the trunk is clamped in the support or holder and the pivotal connections of the operating rods and 53 with their respective actuating levers will be beyond the dead centers oi lovers, making it ne essary to manually operate said levers in order to loosen the trunk. This prevents accidental disengage- :nent oi the clamp me eers from trunk, and assures a secure fastening of the trunk within the support or holder.

At the iront end or hooks or arms o7 at its clothing in daily use may hung.

This post is spaced a sufficient distance the front of the trunk when c osed to per section of the trunk to o tion without coming in con t with said post.

Extending forwardly iron transverse base member 18 is an arm 58, to iront end of which is pivotaliy secured one end ci a link 59 having its other end pivotal-fly secured to the rear end of an arm 6G, which extends vardly therefrom and has an angular engaging head or member @l pivotally sec red to its ront end.

A "etractile spng 52 secured at one end to a suitable point or" trznsverse frame niember, and at its other end to the pivot connecting the link 59 wi n the arm do.

The angular en ging mer' ber 61 has its inner side covered t felt oother suitable material 63, one portion "d angular engaging member lying contat:i -th the bottom of the front or cover section the trunk and the other part against the iront wall thereof. The spring 52 tends to draw the engaging vMember 6l in contact the front wall oi said iront or cover section and hold the same in closed position, even though not latched or locked.

The link 59, the arm 6o, the ielted or padded angular engaging member 6i and the spring constitute a cover retaining device, and in the position shown in full lines in irig. 6, hold the cover of the trunk, hereinbeiore referred to as the front or cover section, in closed position,

The pivotal connection of the cover to the body portion of the trunk, is dispose at that side of the support or holder adjacent the connecting or corner upright 19 and the post 55, or cos-turner as it may be termed. The cover the'efore swings from right to left when being opened, or from the position shown in lightly dotted lines in Fig. 6 to that shown in heavy dotted lines in said figure.

During the act of opening this cover, the several parts of the cover retaining device move from the position shown in full lines in Fig. 6 to those shown in dotted lines, and when the point of pivotal connection of the arm 60 with the link 59 is in longitudinal alinement with the pivotal connection of the link 59 with the arm ung into open posiit the front or coverv 58 and that end of the spring secured to the transverse frame member 18, the cover may be said to be on a dead center, in which position it may be maintained if not accidentally forced to the right or left. Slight swinging movement of the cover to the left will cause the spring to act to fully open the cover of the trunk, fully open meaning for the purpose of this invention, the position in which the cover is shown with heavy dotted lines in Fig. 6, in which position the cover is disposed at a right angle to the body portion of the trunk. Slight movement of the cover to the right of the dead center will cause the spring to close the cover of the trunk. However, it is preferred that the cover be moved to the left of the dead center, as shown by heavy dotted lines in Fig. 6 of the drawings, and be there retained by any suitable means; for example, the link 59 may, at that end pivotally connected to arm 58, have an upstanding stop lug 59a which will move in contact with, or travel freely around the end of the arm 58 when swinging the cover into open position, and as the fully open position is reached by the cover, this lug will engage the side of the arm 58 and be stopped thereby, thus preventing further swinging movement of the link 59 and arm 60, and consequently the cover itself. In the drawings I have illustrated the cover swung slightly beyond what I have termed the dead center of the cover, established by the alinement of the arm 60, link 59, and point of connection of the spring 62 to the transverse frame member 18. It will be apparent that any other suitable stop device may be employed for this purpose.

As the trunk is elevated from the oor by reason of its being supported on the transverse frame member 18 of the support or holder, which may be considered the trunk supporting member, and fastened thereto by the clamping mechanism described, the maior portion of the trunk is in overhanging position and is elevated a distance above the hoor so that access may be had to the floor underneath the trunk in order to keep surn roundings clean.

In the construction described I have shown individual actuating elements for the individual clamp heads, but in the modification shown in Fig. 8, the operating rods 42 and 53 are both pivotally connected to a single actuating lever 64. The pivotal connection of said operatinfr rods to said actuating lever being such that both clamp heads are moved into engaging position with the trunk at the same time, and also moved away from the trunk; the manner of constructing the clamp support, designated in this ligure by the numeral 65, being somewhat different than in the preferred construction shown in Figs.v 1 to 7; also the manner of guiding the clamp bars 39 and 49, which are made somewhat shorter in the modification than in the preferred construction.

While I have illustrated what I now consider two practicable arrangements for supporting or holding thetrunk in elevated position in order to readily open the same7 it will be apparent from the scope of the appended claims that many changes in the construction of the frame and the clamping means, as well as other parts of the apparatus, may be resorted to Without departing from the spirit of my invention or sacricing any of the advantages thereof.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:-

1. A holder for Wardrobe trunks having a body portion and a cover section hinged to said body portion to swing in a horizontal plane, vcomprising a supporting frame on which said bodyfportion rests, ymeans to secure said body portion to said supporting frame, and retaining means connected to said supporting frame .and engaging said cover section to hold the same .fully open when so positioned. v

2. A holder' for wardrobe trunkshaving a 'body portion and a cover section hinged to said body portion to swing in a horizontal plane, comprising a supporting frame on which said body portion rests, means to secure said body'portion to said supporting frame, and retaining means connected to said supporting frame and serving to hold said cover section closed whenso positioned.

3. A holder for wardrobe trunks having a body portion and a cover section hinged to said body portion to swing in a horizontal plane, comprising a supporting frame on which said body portion rests, means to secure said body portion to said supporting frame, and retaining means connected to said supporting frame rand serving vto move said cover section into its fully opened position after it is opened to a certain point in its opening movement and to so retain said coverV section.

. 4. A holder for wardrobe trunks having a body portion and a cover section hinged to said body portion to swing in a horizontal plane, comprising a supporting frame on which said body portion rests, means to secure said body portion to said supporting frame, and retaining means connected to said supporting frame and engaging said cover section to move the same into fully closed position when opened within aY certain range of its opening movement.

5. VA holder for wardrobe trunks having a body portion and a cover .section hinged Y.to said body portion to swing in a horizontal plane, comprising a supporting frame. onwhich said body portion rests, means to secure Said body portion to Y said supporting frame, and retaining means secured to said supporting frame, and engaging said cover section, said retaining means providing a dead center in the range of movement of supporting member supporting the body portion of a wardrobe trunk and said vertical member having one of the sides of said body portion bearing thereagainsh and means to clamp the body portion of the trunk to said horizontal supporting member and to said vertical member, the cover mem er of the trunk being free to move without coming in contact with the floor or parts of said frame.

7. A holder for trunks having a frame provided with two horizontal frame members disposed in different horizontal planes and at right angles yto each other, a vertical frame member connecting adjacent ends of said horizontal frame members, the elevated horizontal frame member being adapted to have the rear portion of a wardrobe trunk seated thereon, clamping means exerting pressure against the top vof said trunk to hold the same against said last-mentioned horizontal frame member, and clamping means engaging one side of the trunk to hold the other" side thereof against said vertical frame member.

8. A holder for trunks having a frame adapted to rest on a floor and being provided with two horizontal frame members disposed in different horizontal planes and at right angles to each other and a vertical frame member connecting adjacent ends of said horizontal frame members, the elevated horizontal frame member being adapted to have the rear portion of a wardrobe trunk seated thereon with the hinged cover portion thereof out of contact with said frame and the door, clamping means exerting pressure against the top of said trunk to hold the same against said last-mentioned horizontal frame member, and retaining means secured to said last-mentioned horizontal frame member having an engaging member in contact with the cover section of the trunk at the lower end thereof, said'retaining means including a spring expansible under the opening movement of said cover and serving to draw said cover into full opened or fully closed position, depending upon the position of said cover at one or the other side of a deiinite point in the Vopening or closing movement of said cover.

9. A holder for trunks having a frame provided with two horizontal frame members disposed at right angles to each other and a vertical frame member connecting adjacent ends of said horizontal frame member, a clamp support secured to said frame and provided with guide elements, clamp bars disposed at right angles to each other guided for movement in said guide elements and having trunk-engaging means to engage two diierent walls of the trunk, and means for actuating said clamp bars to bring said trunk-engaging means in contact with the trunk, or to release said means therefrom.

10. A holder for wardrobe trunks having a body portion and a horizontally-swinging cover connected to said body portion, comprising a frame, means on said frame for securing the trunk thereto, and retaining means on said frame in engagement with said cover to retain the same in either open or closed position when so positioned, said retaining means allowing opening or closing movement of said cover without disconnection rom the frame and cover.

.11. A holder for wardrobe trunks having a body portion and a horizontally-swinging cover connected to said body portion, comprising a frame, means on said frame for securing a trunk thereto, and retaining means secured to said frame and comprising an element engaging the cover'of said frame, means for pivotally supporting said element and allowing the latter to swing in an arc cf a circle with said cover, and a spring tending to swing said cover into fully opened or fully closed position, depending on whether said cover is to one or the other side of a vertical plane .determining the dead center under action of said spring.

12. A holder for Wardrobe trunks having a body portion and a cover hinged thereto adapted for horizontal movement in an arc of a circle, comprising a frame, means exerting pressure against the trunk in two directions so as to rmly secure the trunk to said holder, said trunk having its body portion resting upon said frame and said cover in a free overhaning position to enable it to be opened or closed without coming in contact with the iioor -on which. said frame rests.

JOHN M. BEARD. 

